Acuity Scheduling vs Nexa The Real Comparison for Permanent Makeup Artists
Acuity Scheduling
$34/mo ($408/yr)
VS
Nexa
$279 once — own forever
or 3 payments of $99
Break even: 8.2 months at Acuity Scheduling's current price.
Bottom Line
Acuity Scheduling costs permanent makeup artists $408/year at today's list price. Nexa is $279 once for invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking and accounting in one suite — so it pays for itself in 8.2 months and you own it after that. What it is not: hosted-for-you software with a support desk and a roadmap you can lobby. That is the trade, and the rest of this page is the detail behind it.
The verdict for permanent makeup artists: Acuity Scheduling is solid software, but at $34/month it costs $1,224 over 3 years. Nexa does most of what Acuity Scheduling does for $279 once. For solo permanent makeup artists and small teams, Nexa is the better deal.
Choose Nexa if:
You're done paying monthly forever
You're a solo operator or small team (1-5)
You need scheduler, Connect CRM, Invoicing in one purchase in one tool
You're tired of price increases
You want to own your tools like you own your equipment
Choose Acuity Scheduling if:
You have a large team (10+) needing enterprise features
You're deeply invested in Acuity Scheduling's specific workflow
You need a feature Nexa doesn't have yet
What Acuity Scheduling Actually Costs Permanent Makeup Artists
Today's list price is $34/month — $408 a year, from Acuity Scheduling's own pricing page. Every figure below is that price, multiplied. Nothing is projected.
Three years at today's price
Year 1$408
Year 2$408
Year 3$408
Three years of Acuity Scheduling$1,224
Nexa: $279 once (or 3 × $99). Over the same three years, that is $945 less.
If Acuity Scheduling raises its price, the three-year cost goes up; if it cuts it, the cost comes down. We don't guess which. Add-ons, extra seats and card-processing fees are not included, on either side.
Feature-by-Feature
Feature
Acuity Scheduling
Nexa
Invoicing
✓
✓
Scheduling
—
✓
CRM
✗
✓
Time Tracking
✗
✓
Full Accounting
✗
✓ (SIMPL)
Task Management
✗
✓
Works offline
—
✓
Price
$34/mo
$279 once or 3 × $99
3-Year Total
$1,224
$279
You own it?
No — stop paying, lose access
Yes — forever
✓ and ✗ for Acuity Scheduling come from its own published feature list. — means the feature isn't in that list, which is not the same as Acuity Scheduling lacking it: check with them. Three years is at today's price.
What "$279 Once" Does And Doesn't Buy
It buys the software, not a service contract. You install Nexa and it runs on your machine. There is no seat count, and nothing stops working if you stop paying, because there is nothing to stop paying.
Acuity Scheduling's monthly fee is not only rent. It pays for their hosting, their support desk, and their engineers shipping changes every week. If those matter to how you work, that is a real thing you would be giving up.
Cross-device sync is the one optional extra — $4.99/month if you want your data mirrored between machines. Skip it and Nexa still works; you just sync manually.
The honest risk of buying once: you are betting on us still being here to improve it. The honest risk of renting: the price is theirs to raise, and the graveyard section below is a record of tools that did exactly that.
What Acuity Scheduling Does Better
Straight from Acuity Scheduling's own feature set. If one of these is the reason you pay them, that reason does not disappear because Nexa is cheaper.
Intake forms
Package and subscription billing
Gift certificates
HIPAA compliance (Powerhouse)
Squarespace integration
A smaller bill up front: plans start at $20/month, against $279 paid once for Nexa.
Acuity Scheduling is the better call if you need intake forms specifically, or if your team is large enough that per-seat pricing still beats buying software outright.
Where business tools fit — for a permanent makeup artist
Software doesn't do your clients — it automates the business around it. And that part is the same for every permanent makeup artist: find the work, manage it, bill for it, get paid. Each step has a tool — and the right single tool runs the whole loop, so the handoffs are automatic and you get back to your clients. Tap a step to see what gets automated.
1
Find the work
Get booked
↓
A new client finds you and books a time — no phone tag, no double-booking.
CRM / contacts
Estimates & proposals
Booking / scheduling
then ↓
2
Manage the work
Deliver the service
↓
The session itself — with the client history, notes, packages, and add-ons right there instead of in three different places.
Job / project tracking
Time tracking
Expenses, materials & add-ons
then ↓
3
Bill for it
Send the bill
↓
The work becomes the invoice — the hours, the add-ons, the materials, the deposit credited — totaled and sent, instead of re-typed at 9pm.
Invoicing
Deposits & credits
then ↓
4
Get paid
Collect payment
↓
Paid by card or link, the deposit credited, and what's overdue chased — without you doing it by hand.
Card / online payments
Automatic reminders
You can stitch four separate subscriptions across these four steps, or run one tool that does the whole flow so a booking becomes a job becomes an invoice becomes a payment without re-typing. Either way the goal is the same: less time on the business of the business, more on your clients. (Nexa is built to be the one — but the honest options for each step are above and below.)
Calculate Your Full Stack
Acuity Scheduling plus whatever else you're paying for:
Email yourself this comparison?
Switching from Acuity Scheduling
1
Export your data — Go to Settings → Export. Download your client list and appointment history.
2
Set up Nexa Scheduler — 15-minute setup. Import clients and recreate your appointment types.
3
Update your links — Replace your Acuity booking link everywhere — website, email, social.
4
Cancel Acuity — Cancel Squarespace subscription. Download a final backup of your data.
✓ 30-day money-back guarantee. Zero risk.
Sound Familiar?
Your first client is a new brow procedure, so you spend a long time up front on the consultation and mapping, measuring with calipers and string, drawing the shape with a pencil, and getting her to approve it in the mirror before a single stroke, because PMU is semi-permanent and there's no easy undo. You apply the numbing, let it set, then work the rotary machine, implanting pigment into the brows in even passes, wiping and re-numbing as you go. The procedure runs a couple of hours. You walk her through aftercare, that the brows will darken and scab before they soften, and you book her six-to-eight-week perfecting session, which is part of the price and where the result actually gets finished, except people skip it and then blame you for patchy brows. The afternoon is a lip blush on a returning client and a color correction on someone whose brows healed too warm on her skin, which is its own skill. Between clients you're sterilizing, swapping disposables, and answering anxious texts from people in the scabbing phase convinced something's wrong. The hard part of the business is the rhythm of consult, procedure, perfecting session per client, three appointments that all have to connect, plus pricing brows, liner, and lip as separate services with the touch-up baked in.
The six-to-eight-week perfecting session is part of the price, but clients no-show it and then complain about patchy healed results
Consultations and patch tests that have to happen before the procedure but rarely get scheduled cleanly
Healed color that shifts on certain skin types, leading to color-correction work and unhappy first-timers
Pricing brows, liner, and lip blush as separate services plus the included touch-up, then it blurs at checkout
Scheduling, client records and invoicing are the pieces of that day. Some tools rent you each piece separately. A few — Nexa among them — bundle the lot and carry their own booking link, with no per-appointment cut. The sections below price both routes honestly.
None of that is a software problem you can buy your way out of in one click — it is why the tool you pick matters more than what it costs. Acuity Scheduling solves some of it. So does Nexa. The difference is what you are left holding in three years.
What This Means for Permanent Makeup Artists
The median Permanent Makeup Artist earns $35,000/year. At $408/year, Acuity Scheduling is a recurring slice of that — paid again every year, whether the year was good or not. Owning the same jobs outright is $279 once, and the slice stops.
Nexa is $279 once. Invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, accounting — all connected, built for permanent makeup artists. You own it like you own your Rotary PMU machine with disposable cartridge needles.
Is Nexa actually right for a permanent makeup artist?
An honest fit check — because the wrong tool is worse than no tool.
Right for you if
You run solo or a small team — like the 20,000 permanent makeup artists in the US who do, and you wear every hat.
You're tired of paying every month for a monthly subscription stack and a pile of apps that don't talk to each other.
You want invoicing, scheduling, and client tracking in one place — not scattered across five apps.
You'd rather own your software once, the way you own your Rotary PMU machine with disposable cartridge needles.
Look elsewhere if
You have a large team that needs enterprise seats, granular roles, and dedicated admin staff — Nexa is built for solo and small operators (1–5), and a bigger platform will serve you better.
You need full payroll for a large team or deep, SKU-level inventory — that's not what Nexa is for.
You're genuinely happy paying monthly and don't mind stitching tools together. No tool fixes a workflow you already like.
The honest fit: if you're a solo or small permanent makeup artists business that owns its tools and is sick of renting software, Nexa replaces your whole stack for $279 once. If you're scaling into a large team with dedicated admin staff, a bigger platform may fit better — and we'd rather tell you that now than sell you the wrong thing.
Permanent Makeup Artists by the numbers — by place
Scheduling, client records and invoicing are the pieces of that day. Some tools rent you each piece separately. A few — Nexa among them — bundle the lot and carry their own booking link, with no per-appointment cut. The sections below price both routes honestly.
What permanent makeup artists actually deal with
The six-to-eight-week perfecting session is part of the price, but clients no-show it and then complain about patchy healed results
Consultations and patch tests that have to happen before the procedure but rarely get scheduled cleanly
Healed color that shifts on certain skin types, leading to color-correction work and unhappy first-timers
Pricing brows, liner, and lip blush as separate services plus the included touch-up, then it blurs at checkout
A day in the life of a permanent makeup artist
Your first client is a new brow procedure, so you spend a long time up front on the consultation and mapping, measuring with calipers and string, drawing the shape with a pencil, and getting her to approve it in the mirror before a single stroke, because PMU is semi-permanent and there's no easy undo. You apply the numbing, let it set, then work the rotary machine, implanting pigment into the brows in even passes, wiping and re-numbing as you go. The procedure runs a couple of hours. You walk her through aftercare, that the brows will darken and scab before they soften, and you book her six-to-eight-week perfecting session, which is part of the price and where the result actually gets finished, except people skip it and then blame you for patchy brows. The afternoon is a lip blush on a returning client and a color correction on someone whose brows healed too warm on her skin, which is its own skill. Between clients you're sterilizing, swapping disposables, and answering anxious texts from people in the scabbing phase convinced something's wrong. The hard part of the business is the rhythm of consult, procedure, perfecting session per client, three appointments that all have to connect, plus pricing brows, liner, and lip as separate services with the touch-up baked in.
The tools a working permanent makeup artist actually owns
Rotary PMU machine with disposable cartridge needles
Brow mapping calipers, string, and a mapping pencil
Professional cosmetic-tattoo pigments in a custom-mixed palette
PMU-formulated topical numbing (pre and secondary)
Single-use practitioner license/bloodborne-pathogen kit and barrier film
Adjustable lamp with magnification and a reclining client bed
The tools of the trade — each a one-time buy that earns its keep for years.
Rotary PMU machine with disposable cartridge needles
Brow mapping calipers, string, and a mapping pencil
Professional cosmetic-tattoo pigments in a custom-mixed palette
PMU-formulated topical numbing (pre and secondary)
Single-use practitioner license/bloodborne-pathogen kit and barrier film
Adjustable lamp with magnification and a reclining client bed
You paid for these once because good tools last. That's the bar your software should clear too — priced like a tool you own, $279 once, not a subscription that costs more than your kit every year.
Where Nexa wins for a permanent makeup artist — and where it doesn't
The honest version. Nexa was built to beat the rented stack on the jobs that matter most to a permanent makeup artist — here's where it wins, where the integration wins it anyway, and the things it genuinely doesn't do, with who to use instead. (No tool is best at everything; a guide that pretends otherwise is just an ad.)
Compare the essential business tools for permanent makeup artists
The usual subscriptions vs. Nexa, side by side. Drag the time slider — every year you keep renting, the gap widens. Nexa is $279, one time.
The jobThe usual rentalThe verdict
The whole connected stack3 subscriptions · ~$900/yrNexa wins big One tool, $279 once — From caliper mapping and the patch test through the procedure, the six-to-eight-week perfecting session, and the invoice, one record per client keeps the consult, the session, and the touch-up from being treated as three disconnected decisions. without re-typing. That handoff is the part separate tools can't buy at any price.
Scheduling & bookingCalendly →Nexa wins The consultation, patch test, first procedure, and the six-to-eight-week perfecting session all chain in one calendar, so the perfecting visit that's part of the price gets booked up front instead of being the no-show that ruins the healed result.
CRM & clientsHubSpot →Nexa wins Each client's skin type, mapping notes, and patch-test result live on one contact, so when healed color shifts you have the original measurements in front of you for the color-correction rather than starting over.
InvoicingFreshBooks →Nexa wins The procedure and its included perfecting session are billed as one package off the same record, so clients see the perfecting visit is paid for and don't skip it then complain about patchy results.
If you run real payroll for a team—Not Nexa Use Gusto → — it's better at that, and we'd rather tell you than pretend.
If you run big email campaigns & automations—Not Nexa Use ConvertKit → — it's better at that, and we'd rather tell you than pretend.
Prefer to own a piece outright instead of renting? Free and open-source tools (GnuCash, Invoice Ninja and the like) each handle one job if you'll self-host them — a real option, listed because it's true.
These are affiliate links — if you sign up through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We list them because they're the honest best pick for the job, Nexa included. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Competitor pricing verified 2026-06-12.
How To Read This Page
We make Nexa. It is one of the two options compared here, so read this with that in mind. We have tried to make Acuity Scheduling's case the way we would want ours made — their strengths above are their own published feature list, not our summary of it.
The prices are Acuity Scheduling's published list prices, checked on the date shown in the sources below. Plans change; check theirs before you decide.
No customer quotes appear on this page because we do not have any from permanent makeup artists we can verify. For user testimony, read the independent reviews — Acuity Scheduling on G2 and on Capterra — where the reviewers are not selling you anything.
Some links on this page earn us money. Tool links may be affiliate links paying us a commission at no extra cost to you, including links to Acuity Scheduling itself. We list a tool when it is the honest pick for the job, not because of the payout.
Check the price yourself:Acuity Scheduling's own pricing page is the source for every figure above, read on the date shown in the sources section below.
We are not neutral about subscriptions, and that is the argument, not a hidden assumption: software you pay for once is cheaper over three years than software you rent, unless you need something only the rented one does.
How we put this guide together
We build a permanent makeup artist's guide the same way every time, and we'd rather you trust it than take it on faith. Nexa is our product, so the test we hold ourselves to is simple: a tool only "wins" a job here when it genuinely does that job better for a permanent makeup artist — and where something free, open-source, or buy-once does it better, we say so and link you to it. Where Nexa falls short (payroll is the honest example), we name the alternative outright.
Where the numbers come from
Vendor pricingVagaro $600/yr, Acuity Scheduling $408/yr, Square, HoneyBook $432/yr — taken from each company's published plans, last verified September 2026. Pricing moves; each name above links straight to that vendor’s own pricing page so you can confirm it before you decide.
Income contextThe $35,000 median we cite for the typical permanent makeup artist is occupational median annual pay from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics), compiled April 2026. We use it only to show software spend as a share of real income — your own numbers will differ.
Three-year mathMulti-year totals are today's list price multiplied by the number of years. No price rise is projected, so the figure can be checked against the vendor's own pricing page; if they raise it, the real cost is higher.
Found something out of date? Prices change and we don't catch every move the day it happens. This guide is published and maintained by the Nexa team; if a figure here is wrong, tell us and we'll fix it — getting it right matters more to us than the sale.
FAQ
Is Nexa really a Acuity Scheduling replacement?
For solo permanent makeup artists and small teams, yes. invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, task management, and full accounting — all for $279 once. Acuity Scheduling may be better if you have a large team (10+) or need enterprise-specific features.
What does Acuity Scheduling do that Nexa doesn't?
Acuity Scheduling has features like Intake forms and Package and subscription billing that some businesses rely on. For most solo permanent makeup artists, these aren't dealbreakers.
How fast does Nexa pay for itself?
At $34/month, Nexa pays for itself in 8.2 months. After that: $408 saved every year.
Can I pay in installments?
Yes. Nexa is $279 as a one-time payment, or 3 payments of $99 ($297 total). Either way it's a one-time purchase — no subscription, no recurring fees ever.